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1970 sex discrimination guidelines getting 2015 look

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Proposed new U.S. Department of Labor sex discrimination guidelines for federal contractors to follow — the first update since 1970 — were published Friday in the Federal Register.

The recommended changes would revise the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ guidelines to align with laws, court decisions and societal changes since they were originally issued in 1970, the department said in a statement issued Wednesday.

“Our sex discrimination guidelines are woefully out of date and don’t reflect established law or the reality of modern workplaces,” OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu said in the statement. “We owe it to the working women of America — and their families — to fix this regulatory anachronism so there is no confusion about how federal contractors must comply with their equal opportunity obligations.”

A Labor Department fact sheet says the current guidelines do not address the full range of discriminatory wage practices that contribute to the wage gap between men and women; the accommodations for workers affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions; and the stereotyping related to caregiving.

Since the guidelines were issued, Title VII has been amended several times, including by the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The current guidelines also do not reflect the significant changes that Congress has made to Title VII, nor that Title VII case law that has developed in important ways since the guidelines were issued 35 years ago, according to the fact sheet.

For instance, the current guidelines do not address the Pregnancy Discrimination Act’s requirement that an employer must provide health or disability insurance to its employees for pregnancy-related conditions if it provides such insurance for other conditions.

The public will have until March 31 to comment on the proposal.

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